


The Parallel’s To Our Lives  (The One’s We Never Knew Of)

by Janethecat



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, But not quite, Cas is adorable, Confusion, Destiel - Freeform, Everything’s screwy, M/M, Protective Dean Winchester, Sabriel - Freeform, Sam Winchester Needs a Hug, and awesome, and weird, but there is, do people even read these?, in general, nah, obviously, sorry - Freeform, sorta - Freeform, swapped worlds, the bunker, the normal - Freeform, theres no porn, too many Dean's, ✨ sexual tension✨
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:27:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27307708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Janethecat/pseuds/Janethecat
Summary: Sam wants to get away from his brother, just for a little while. Don’t get him wrong, he loves Dean but there’s only so much you can take of another person before you want to strangle them. So when he hears of a possible case in the middle of nowhere, he jumps at the chance to take it.He starts to regret it when he finds himself staring into his own face after being thrown back through a dimension rip. Sadly, even with other him aiming a gun at his face, the only thing he’s worried about is the fact he’d taken the Impala here and there was no way he would get it back now without Dean noticing.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester, Gabriel/Sam Winchester
Comments: 14
Kudos: 88





	1. An Unexpected Trip

**Author's Note:**

> This is set between A Most Holy Man and Scooby-natural, just a forewarning.

It was a lead. Nothing more, nothing less. Someone said something to someone else that relayed it on to him, that didn’t always mean it was true no matter how much he wished it did. Life is always chaotic for them but he never expected it to be like this, not to this degree at least. 

He had gone out early to avoid suspicion either from Dean or Cas, both of whom were still sound asleep when he left. He hoped the rumble of the Impala’s engine hadn’t been enough to wake the others up but with it being his brothers baby, it was hard to say. 

Sighing, he sat calmly behind the wheel, leaning his head against his arm to stare out the window at the abandoned apartment buildings. It wasn’t as though this place was in the middle of a normal city, it was out in the middle of nowhere, standing alone slowly being reclaimed by nature. Sighing, he kept staring back up at the building while waiting, for what he was unsure. The lead had said someone was messing with some dark stuff here, whether or not it held true is to be discovered. 

A light flashed in a window far above his head and Sam bolted upright. Reaching over he plucked the duffel bag up off the passenger seat and opened the door, finally getting out. Walking in, silence met his footsteps accompanied only by the clouds of dust he kicked up on his way in. Brows furrowing, he pulled out his gun and pointed it ahead of him, crossing his other arm under with the flashlight on. The information he had on this place was scarce, nothing said what lived there, whether it was a spirit or demon. 

He was walking in blind. 

One foot at a time he climbed the stairs, occasionally hearing the squeak of long since rotted wood beneath him. He ignored it every time and walked on. As he approached the floor he’d seen the light on, a singular voice grew louder, chanting in a language not even he recognized. Mouth twitching down, he checked the bag and switched out his usual weapon for the gun filled with witch-killing bullets. He might be facing something else but if there’s one thing he knew, it’s the sound of a witch. 

Gritting his teeth he stopped in front of the door only long enough to shift his feet before kicking it open and barging in. That was his first mistake. Or maybe it was not bringing any form of backup. Either way, he was overpowered the second he walked in with a blinding light that left him throwing caution to the wind and shoving his face into the crook of his arm. 

“It’s high time we rid you and that broken soul of yours from this world.” Who the hell was talking? Taking the chance, he moved his head up and tried to get a glimpse at the other. A flash of red caught his eye, one he identified as a ring. Nostrils flaring, he dropped his arm and tried to tackle them, only to miss and be completely enveloped in the blinding light. It may have been bright, but all Sam could see now was darkness. 

As suddenly as it had begun, it stopped and Sam was dropped to the ground, rolling before running into a wall. Gasping, he fought into full consciousness and grabbed aimlessly at the floor around him, searching for the hilt of his weapon. His fingers caught on it and he forced his eyes open enough to look around. 

The first thing he saw, the table at which he had set up today’s hunting tools on. Furrowing his brows he went back to looking around and found himself back where he began. He was back in the bunker. Ignoring the sting of pain it sent through his everything he stood up at a painstaking pace while continuing to take stock of the room. Nothing seemed out of place, beer bottles he didn’t remember drinking sat idly on the table, a cup of cold coffee near to it along with a still open book. 

Tilting his head he stared at it before the sound of another person invaded his ears. Snapping his head towards the door he raised his gun and waited for whoever it was to walk through. This had to be some trap, a fake set up. Maybe he was still asleep and dreamt everything- 

“What the hell?” Staring at who had walked into the room, his own face stared back, same confused look though without the gun. They pulled out their own gun and pointed it right back at Sam. Behind fake-him, Dean and Cas followed talking quietly with themselves up until they spotted him. 

“What the hell!” 

“That’s what I asked.” While Dean pulled out a weapon of his own, Cas tilted his head to Sam while narrowing his eyes before widening them. 

“You aren’t from here.” That... made sense. It would explain why he was staring at his own face. 

“Apparently, look I’m not a shifter or-or anything else okay? I think I might have been thrown here.” Fake-him slowly let his weapon sink down and Sam watched it with a frown. They believed him? Just like that? 

“From where?” Not-Dean said, intense look on his face. It took Sam aback, he hadn’t had that same look thrown at him in years, and never because of something he didn’t do. 

“I don’t know, I-I-“ thankfully Cas saved him by stepping in and placing his hand on not-Dean’s arm, pushing down. 

“This is Sam but he does not appear to be of this universe. His soul is.. different from our Sam’s.” Slowly, Sam lowered his arm and clicked the safety back into place. Whether these guys were shifters or not he assumed not, going by the silver on the guns. 

“I-I think that’s right. Um, I just have to-to, oh no,” rubbing his face, he stalked over to the table fully aware of the other three pairs of eyes following his every move and flung his bag onto the table to open it and riffle through it. Pulling out a piece of paper he shuffled through it and reread everything he already had memorized. Cussing under his breath he threw the paper onto the table before collapsing into one of the chairs. Fake-him picked up the paper and began reading it. 

“What is this?” Glancing at the other, Sam briefly played with the idea of just not answering but decided against it. He may need their help. 

“It’s a spell to send someone to another universe. We’re trying to use it but now..” sighing he let the his words hang in the air before not-Dean walked forwards and stood next to fake-him to look over the paper as well. 

“Why do you have this?” Cas’s question caught him off guard, leading to him staring blankly at the other. 

“You act as if you’ve never done it?” Cas shook his head at Sam, eyes narrowed and hand poised in a way Sam knew to mean he was ready to draw his blade at any point. 

“S-so you came here for what?” 

“I don’t come here on purpose I got.. sent here by some witch. I think at least.” 

“You think?” Glaring at his brother, Sam set his arm back in the table and straightened his spine. 

“Yes, I think, it’s not like I was able to see all that much, just-.. can you get Jack? I’m sure since you guys don’t apparently universe hop he should be here and able to send me back or at least try to.” The three around him shared glances with one another without him noticing. It was too quiet so he glanced up and caught them in the act. “What.” 

“Who is Jack.” Saliva getting caught in his throat, Sam stared blankly at the trio, switching his gaze between them. 

“J-Jack? Your kid-our kid? You guys don’t have him?” Fake-Sam shook his head while handing the paper back to him. Shooting himself a smile he took it and refolded it before stuffing it back in the bag. 

“If it’s alright with you guys then I will just, uh, I will just get to researching anything that might help me out here. Is that okay?” 

“Dude, if Cas says you’re Sammy then you’re Sammy and judging by the way you just sat yourself down there, you know this place well enough already. Personally, I’m headed to bed. Cas?” The former angel nodded his head, not taking his eyes off of him before following not-Dean out of the room. Sam watched them leave with a tilted head. It was weird, his Dean would have never set that gun down, hell he still refused to go without one at least five inches from his hand with Jack around. 

So what the heck happened to make him so willing to trust Sam that much this fast? 

“Do you want any help with the research.” Jumping at the other voice, Sam looked at other him with wide eyes. He had honestly forgotten about other him until he had spoken. Taking in the others form, including the dark bags under his eyes and the vacated coffee on the table he’d seen earlier, Sam guesses he needed more sleep than he did right now. 

“No, no, I’ll be fine. You should get some sleep.” 

“Got to say, it’s weird being told that by myself.” Laughing, he watched as other him walked away in the general direction of where Sam’s own bedroom back in his bunker was. Sighing, Sam stared at where the trio had disappeared for a second longer before a yawn ripped it’s way out of his mouth. 

He knew he said he would only do research, but the fuzziness in his head and the slight blur to the world around him made it hard to even think about reading that much stuff without a little sleep first. After the whole thing with him being unable to sleep, Sam couldn’t do anymore all nighters, not without breaking down at least twice. After Dean had found out about it he had sporadically been keeping an eye on him, making sure to remind Sam to go to bed if the hours he hadn’t slept kept racking up. 

Dean wasn’t here right now so it fell back onto him to take care of his own body. Last thing he needed was for these versions of themselves to know anything about the crap he had been through, especially if they hadn’t had to live through any of it themselves. Standing, he stretched and gathered his bag of goodies before making his way towards the spare bedroom he knew they vowed never to use, the one where they kept all the stuff they didn’t have another place to store it. 

Inside was an odd collection of magical devises, accidental spells gone wrong and plain old stuff they didn’t need, but hadn’t had the time to deal with yet. Smiling at the sight he set off, immediately drawing up every sigil and warding he could remember and placing them around the room. After finishing everything he could remember, Sam collapsed into bed without bothering to take off more than his shoes. 

His side and chest ached from catching the ground but at this point he could only ignore it and hope he didn’t bruise anything. Besides, it wasn’t nothing a little sleep couldn’t fix. Right?


	2. A day of Reckoning(with himself)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Research is not for the faint of heart, nor was facing your fears yet here Sam was, doing both...

He was wrong. Sam woke up to silence and aches, so different from what he knew it caught him off guard. Groaning, he sat up and wondered what he was doing in their storage room when the night before came back into his mind. 

Groaning he flung his legs over the side and winced when he put his weight on them. Hobbling his way out he started with the clock and found out it was only three thirty. No way was he getting back to bed now. Besides, he got a good four hours in. 

Starting in the witches section, he pulled out stacks upon stacks of books, papers and other random objects he hoped would help him undo whatever the witch had done to him. Then he moved further towards the door before passing a certain section that had him pausing. The soul research section was smaller than the rest and he had yet to run into a case needing it before, but maybe he’d wrote off the chest pains too quickly. What if whatever sent him here wasn’t just a portal, what if it was something more? With that thought he quickly dropped off his most recent stack of books before returning for the ones on souls and continuing on his way. 

In his chest, the dull ache of whatever he’d been hit with thrummed, an ever present thing in the background of his life. Opening the first book, he started on and began his research. One book turned into ten and then into twenty and soon the numbers climbed too high for him to remember. 

Sam was going through yet another book when not-Dean stepped into the room, two cups of what Sam suspected was coffee going by the strong scent. He set one down in front of Sam before popping himself across from him, enjoying the cup of joe in silence. 

“Got to say, my Sam’s never up this early.” Huffing out light laugher, Sam glanced away from his book. 

“Yeah, comes with the occupation I’m afraid. Pulled more all nighters than I can count. Kinda used to it by now.” Shooting a quick smile at the other, he returned to reading the passages while sipping absentmindedly at the coffee. It was almost the exact same taste as back home, but something was missing, something he couldn’t put his finger on. 

“Huh, so, you and your Dean have hopped universes before?” 

“And time lines. It doesn’t get much easier. Uh, lets just say somethings had to happen or I wouldn’t exactly be here, Dean either.” Not-Dean nodded as if he had understood any of what Sam had said and returned to the content silence. Until he decided he had enough and broke it. 

“So the thing that I don’t get is why you don’t just go back? I mean, if you have done this before like you said you guys did, why not just set this thing up and go?” Laughing, Sam stuffed the nearest loose page in the book and closed it so he could look at not-Dean. Leaning forwards in his seat he smiled kindly at the other and cradled the long since empty cup in his hand. 

“The spell is really complicated with several ingredients this place just doesn’t keep in stock. Like archangel grace.” Laughing after he said it, Sam leaned back and looked around. It only now settled in his gut that there was no chance he was getting back. He didn’t even know if this place had archangels anymore. As he thought, other-Castiel silently leaked into the room and sat next to not-Dean with a cup of his own. 

“And as if that isn’t bad enough, um,” rubbing at his nose, Sam looked at the wall to not-Dean’s left and tried not to notice the look the other two shared before giving to him. “I think a witch managed to do something to my soul so even if I manage to get all the correct ingredients there’s no way to go through the portal without it killing me. That’s pretty much what I’m looking for now, anything that can undo it.” 

“You think Cas can help you with it?” Not-Dean asked, gently leaning over to bump his shoulder into other-Cas’s own. Shaking his head, Sam rubbed his hands over his face. 

“I have no idea man. This is all new ground for me and at this point I have no clue.” Not-Dean remained quiet and when Sam looked over at him he realized it was because he was looking somewhere behind Sam. Furrowing his brows, Sam tilted his head and paused. At once, he stood in one fluid movement and pulled the angel blade from his pants to point it at the newcomer. What he saw made him freeze. 

“Gab-“ his voice cut off just like that, which might have to do with how good the guy looked but probably largely to do with the wave of the others hand. Gabriel, the archangel that died trying to protect Sam and Dean, stood at his full heigh (which wasn’t very high) and full strength. His voice may have been gone but that did little to hide the confusion and shock covering his face. 

“Sam, Sam, Sam, when are you going to learn not to get yourself into these situations.” Gulping, he watched as the shorter male slowly made his way into the room only to stand a foot away from Sam, who suddenly felt he couldn’t move. Whether or not that was the angels doing he decided not to ask. “Why do you look weird.” 

“Trickster, dude, that’s not Sam. It’s him from another universe now stop it. You’re freaking him out and, quite honestly, freaking me out too.” He wasn’t quite sure why it existed but the two continued with their staring match until Sam felt his vocal cords relax. Taking in a steady breath he waited until Gabriel had moved away before turning and not only putting the blade away but also sitting back down. 

“So, Sammy boy is an idiot in every universe.” 

“Hey, this isn’t just my fault okay? Some witch figured out how to punt me into this place.” 

“He’s telling the truth, Trickster. I looked at his soul and it is indeed Sam’s, only with a few more... dents.” Huffing, Sam smiled bitterly. ‘Dents’ was putting it nicely, even by Cas’s standards. His souls was in the cage for over a year and a half earth time, glued together, and after it had fallen apart, stitched back together and welded in place as well. He had a hell of a lot more than just a few ‘dents.’ 

“That may be an understatement. Jeez kiddo what did you do?” 

“End the world,” he replied automatically. There was no way that was different, it couldn’t be or he wouldn’t know what to do. 

“That sounds about right with you two but.. that’s a heck of a lot of damage.” 

“It’s none of your concern okay? Drop it. Now, I’ve been looking over every book and loose paper I can find on spells, witches and even soul magic but I can’t find anything yet, so maybe you could help.” Despite there being several other available seats open, Gabriel decided to take the one directly to Sam’s left, probably to make sure he didn’t let anything slip. How this guy had managed to keep them all from finding out he was an archangel was beyond his pay grade. 

As it was, the other man leaned over his shoulder to peer down at the pieces of paper where Sam had been writing anything with the chance to prove useful and where to reference them. 

“Why do you need to know about soul magic?” Sucking in a breath, he folded the paper before pulling out another with the basics of the spell he believed the witch to use on him written on it and sliding it towards the other. It was far less complex than the one used on him but held the same principles. 

“I believe whatever the witch pulled on me not only sent me here but did something to tether my soul to this universe and while I can build a portal back with a few ingredients, such as archangel grace,” he let that slip with a subtle glance to Gabriel who avoided his gaze completely, “there is a large chance the second I step through it would kill me. Hence, research. Besides, it’s not like I wouldn’t do this normally anyway.” With that he returned to the book he had originally set down and picked up where he left off, missing the looks the three around him shared above his head. 

“So, you’re usually willingly do this amount of research?” Blowing hot air out of his mouth, Sam looked around at the stack upon stack of books around him and nodded. 

“I mean, usually it’s only a few books and not on this sort of subject but yeah, I mean it’s our job to take care of this stuff which includes knowing how to kill it.” They all stared at him with a mixture of confusion, disbelief and a hint of... pride? “Do.. you guys not usually look up what you’re killing.” 

“Not to this degree. We stick to the stuff that we know we can kill and take care of that.” Staring blankly at not-Dean, Sam’s mouth fell open before he closed it and repeated the process. 

“How the hell did you stop Lucifer with an attitude like that?” Fake-him chose that moment to walk in and stopped to take in the scene. 

“What are you guys talking about?” He said despite knowing exactly what they were talking about. He wasn’t deaf, despite what his Dean thought. Sam leaned back in his chair and set the book he was previously preoccupied with back onto the table wide open. 

“Nothing important. I’m gonna get something to eat if that’s alright?” Other-Cas nodded to him and Sam shot a quick tight lipped smile his way before getting up and leaving the group alone. Letting the smile drop as soon as he exited the room, Sam rubbed at his eyes and walked along until a hand fell onto his shoulder. Turning, he looked at not-Dean and tilted his head. 

“You okay man?” 

“What did the Trickster mean earlier when he said your soul was damaged?” 

“Well, I mean, that’s a pretty loaded question. Let me ask you this, how did you guys beat the apocalypse?” He fake laughed at his own question, hoping it would put not-Dean into a position where he’d just reveal it. 

“Apparently not like you guys. Adam said yes to Micheal and the, uh, other dude he was wearing-Nick! He, uh, he and Micheal went to fight but we managed to get the Trickster to help us shove the devil back into his cage. Now answer my question.” Shaking his head, Sam huffed at the other. So he didn’t fall into hell? He didn’t drag Micheal down with him? Could one person possibly do th-well he was an archangel, it might have actually worked. 

“Look, Dean, things clearly didn’t work out so well for me and my Dean but what we did to stop it happened long time ago and doesn’t matter now-“ 

“No, don’t you go giving me that crap, you and I both know I don’t take it. If something happened that we need to know about then-“ 

“Then I would tell you. What happened with the apocalypse isn’t relevant to anything that brought me here.” Holding his hand up only served to create more distance between the two of them. It didn’t last very long as not-Dean stepped forwards once more and made the distance between them shrink to little more than five inches. Despite standing taller than the other, his gut still sank and all he saw was the man who raised him. 

“Don’t give me that crap, Sam. What did you mean when you said you ended the world and your soul paid.” 

“If I recall, I said nothing about my soul payi-“ 

“Sam!” Wincing, Sam looked dead into the others eyes and saw his brothers stare back. But they weren’t Dean’s, they were a copy missing something, the familiarity. The exhaustion, the love, the hope. This Dean’s eyes held none of that, they weren’t hardened by the harsh world around him. Shoving the others body off of him, Sam breathed in deeply through his nose. 

“You have no right to ask that of me. What happened in my world that doesn’t effect this situation is none of your business.” Spinning on his heels, he walked off. Not ran, despite what those watching might say, he did not run.

He was pissed sure, but that didn’t mean he was going to leave this place. It might not have been his bunker but damnit the bunker was not just home to him, it was safe. 

Inhaling deeply through his nostrils, he stomped down the hallway and turned the corner to bump into a figure he knew well. Micheal in Adam’s body glowered down at Sam and his heart might have frozen. Eyes widening a fraction he fought hard to keep his mouth from falling open as well. 

Instead of immediately smiting him like he thought he would, Micheal tilted his head at Sam. The small movement snapped him out of his weird trance enough that he shifted into a fighting position and pulled out the angel blade he kept in the hem of his pants. Maybe it wouldn’t kill him but it damn sure would slow him down. Mouth slitting to a low growl, Sam watched as words formed in the other mouth. 

“You are not Sam.” Before he could respond, not-Dean came around the corner behind Sam and caught sight of the standoff. Throwing his hands up not-Dean jumped between them and glanced between the two. 

“Stand down, both of you. Now.” He was using his scolding mom voice, the one Sam always hated but listened to anyway. Time changed nothing and his hand sunk lower by the second but he did not go off guard. The cage had taught him better than to do that. 

“Sammy, put that thing away.” 

“No, it appears he has reason. I can see his soul and-“ 

“You stay the hell away from my anything you hear me,” he all but growled at Micheal. The other relented and backed away and back around the corner. For the first time since the small showdown had started Sam allowed himself to breath fully and panted in as much air as he could. Not-Dean had watched as Micheal disappeared down the hall again before turning back to Sam with a look he hadn’t been expecting. Sure he expected some anger but never would he have expected it to be directed at him. 

“The hells wrong with you?” Brows furrowing Sam glanced back to where Micheal had disappeared to ensure he was gone. 

“The hells is wrong with me? What the hell is wrong with you! How did Micheal even find this place?” Not-Dean didn’t answer him immediately, when he did it was with a blank stare and the slight shake of his head. 

“Why wouldn’t the dude know where this place is, I mean, after all that he’s done for us.” Breathing in deeply through his nostrils he felt them flare out in an attempt to keep his temper in control. 

“Okay, Cas I get, I mean the dude has been with us through pretty much everything and saved our lives more times than I can count, he’s family and earned the right to be here, more than either of us really. Ga-the Trickster I kind of understand, he’s powerful and only tried to honestly teach us a lesson the only way he apparently knew how. But Micheal? Out of all of them? Next thing you’re going to say is Raphael is taking a shower in one of our spare bedrooms.” He huffed out a fake laugh, watching as the others face morphed from annoyance to confusion. 

“What are you going on about? Mike has done a lot for us and for you to-“ 

“No, Dean, he’s done a lot for you guys... I guess our time lines really are completely different.” With that, Sam spun the angel blade around in his hand before stuffing it back into his pants, spinning around, and walking back the way he’d originally came from. 

Screw staying here, he needed to go for a run. Not exercise clothes be damned, crashing through the bunker he left the angel blade behind in his makeshift room as well as a small note on the fridge with the small stack of paper he found explaining where he was and ran up the stairs until he emerged into the natural light of the outside world. 

Eyes searching the familiar area, his legs didn’t pause for a second and he shot off, intending to blow off even a little steam by exhaustion. Onward his feet pounded against the sturdy concrete, his frustration melting away with each step. His boots weren’t made for running, not like this, and pinched his feet slightly as he continued on, the cuffs of his jeans were long since soaked and his legs chaffed with the movement, but he was outside. 

No faking not knowing the Trickster was Gabriel. No pretending that seeing Micheal after everything that had happened wasn’t one of the more terrifying things that had happened in his life. No fake Dean to squint at hard enough to pretend he was his own brother. He was on his own in this time line, for the first time in a long time, he was completely alone. Sure, he had not-Dean and other-Cas and Gabriel number two and even fake-him, but none of them had any idea of what he’d been through so far. They couldn’t have lived more different lives if he tried. Sure this place had the backbone of what he and Dean had been through all these years, but none of it compared to the literal hell they’d been dragged through over the years.

Breaths coming in at an uneven pace, he slowed his pace down to a crawl and looked around him for the first real time since he got out here. His body knew the movements, muscle memory working most of the time while he let his mind wander, but now he was starting to wonder how out of it he had to be to end up right back where he started. The bunkers imposing green metal doors sat in front of him, taunting him mercilessly with who and what laid inside. 

He hesitated outside the door, hand hovering inches away from gripping the handle and briefly considering going another lap before ultimately deciding against it. He didn’t want to go another round anywhere in the getup he was in right now. Sighing through his nose he pushed down on the handle and walked back in. 

As he expected, the table below was filled with someone, what he didn’t expect was all of them gathered together at the table, most with smiles on their faces, and all with a beer by their hands. Tilting his head, Sam gazed down at the scene with something akin to sadness. Maybe if things had been different, him, Dean, Cas, Jack and even their mother could look that happy as well. Other-Cas was the first to spot Sam standing at the top of the stairs. 

He expected the others smile to drop, maybe for him to ignore seeing Sam at all, he hadn’t expected the others smile to go wider as he beckoned him down with the wave of his hand. 

“Come on Sam, join us.” Forcing a tight smile on his face, Sam made his way down the stairs and got the full view of those at the table. 

“No, you guys have fun. I’ll just go get cleaned up and head off to do some more research.” 

“No no, man come on. Here,” not-Dean grinned, producing a beer out of nowhere and tossing it to Sam. It was the only way Dean knew how to apologize, that much Sam knew. Catching it with ease he popped the lid off and, with a few seconds of hesitation, he moved towards them and sat at least two chairs away from them all. 

“So, Sam, I am curious as to what you were about to say earlier.” Tilting his head, Sam’s eye brows twitched as he stared at Cas. 

“You’re gunna need to give me a bit more to go on. About to say when?” 

“To the Trickster.” Any hint of a smile threatened to leave Sam’s face but he held it steady. He lied professionally, surely he could convince other-Castiel he misheard him. 

“I started to stutter, if that’s what you’re talking about. Trickster, uh, died in our universe about... six? Seven years ago? It kind of blurs together. I was just surprised to see him is all.” Not-Dean was giving him an odd look, as though he didn’t fully believe him but fake-him, Cas and Micheal seemed to accept his lie easily enough. He didn’t dare look at Gabriel, that was not a good idea, he liked his voice as it was thank you very much. 

They moved on to another subject quickly, though he didn’t miss the odd looks he kept getting from Gabe but at the same time, he was far too busy keeping an eye on Micheal at all times. It started to get exhausting and he was considering turning in early when Cas and Dean stood up as one and announced they were turning in early, followed soon by Micheal and other him, though Sam was curious as to why he had a room as archangels didn’t need sleep. Still, with the other four gone, it left him and Gabriel. Sam figured it would soon turn awkward with only the two of them and chugged down the rest of his bottle. As he was about to get up, he felt a certain wave of power overwhelm him, leading to Sam being unable to stand. Slowly, he went from staring at the table to looking Gabriel in the eye. 

“What.” 

“How did you know?” 

“About what? Being an archangel? Hate to break it to you but unlike our counterparts my Dean and I aren’t complete idiots like you seem to think we are.” He attempted to lift his arms to no avail. Applying more pressure his arms steadily rose until they were slammed down once more. Gritting his teeth Sam tried to shove them up once more before giving up and staring Gabe dead in the eye. 

“So other me kicked the bucket?” 

“Yes, now let me up, Gabriel. I really don’t have the time or energy to deal with you right now. Let me go.” They stared at each other for what could have only been a few seconds before the pressure holding him down let up completely and Sam shot to his feet with the force of it, the chair scrapping against the ground behind him. Tugging at the bottom of his shirt, Sam nodded at the other and turned to leave. 

“Goodnight, ‘Trickster.’” With that he walked away in the original direction he was headed towards. Arriving at the room he was staying in he walked in and checked up on the warding to make sure none of it was misplaced or broken before hunting down a set of fresh clothes and taking a short steaming shower before crawling into his bed. The warmth seeping out of his body caught on the blankets and created a cocoon of comfort and security around himself. 

He figured there was no chance that his sleep would be peaceful, but he could at least be unreasonably comfortable through the long night. Sighing in contentment, Sam let his eyes close slowly, letting his mind shift from a constant stream of thoughts, to mild ideas and right on into oblivion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, as always, thanks for taking the time to read this! I’ll try to get the next one out as soon as I can so probably in the next week or two.


	3. Library of Gabriel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This might have been a bad idea after all, who knew a stupid hunt would lead to dealing with Gabriel 2.0

The next morning was a repeat of the last, minus mild blowing discoveries, as well as not-Dean, fake-him, other-Cas and even Gabriel number two helping him search the rest of the witches section. The only real difference thus far was him waking and feeling the instant bone crushing sensation of pain in his chest. He wrote it off as the magic that sent him here and continued on his way until he was at the table with yet another book sitting in his lap for several hours and not-Dean other-Cas and Gabriel-two had joined him.

They found nothing and quickly moved on to the spells and soul research section, the one he had intended to look through the day before but got distracted with everything going on. Now though he was reading through the same passage five times over and over again. He kept getting distracted and glancing up at whatever the archangel was doing which included snapping a mountain of candy into existence, swapping his book for a bikini magazine (which he promptly replaced when he settled the other with a glance and a mouthed name) and even trying to dump a bucket of water on their research. 

Thankfully Cas had caught him before he could do that last one and the three of them continued on with their research. Fake-him had left earlier that morning on account he apparently heard tale of a haunting nearby. He had a feeling not-Dean would have gone as well if Sam weren’t currently present. Him and Gabriel together probably needed all hands on deck. 

He hadn’t seen Micheal since the day previous but kept an eye out for him. Sure, the other angel may not have been the one to torment him for dozens of years but his presence alone caused a whole lot of not only apprehension but fear as well. There was a time he wouldn’t have been able to even look at the other man, let alone be in the same room as him, but years of steady help and the care of his brother, friends and even family and he felt he could stand up to anything. 

Of course, whether or not he really could wasn’t something he wanted the answer too. 

Going back to trying to read the paragraph again he was once more interrupted by the fake trickster hopping up to sit on the table. Sighing harshly, he slammed the book shut and stared at the other. 

“Do you need someone to take you for a walk or something?” 

“Do you need to get rid of that crappy personality or something?” Nostrils flaring, Sam’s lips twitched in an almost snarl the other never even noticed. 

“Come on I’m bored, let’s do something.” 

“I think you can manage to keep yourself distracted without us.” 

“He can’t,” both not-Dean and other-Cas said at the same time, not once glancing up from their own books. Glaring at the pair, Sam tried to gain their attention with the subtly wave of his arms. Either they didn’t notice or saw it and chose not to care anyway. Resisting the urge to growl, Sam glanced back over to the archangel who looked back at him innocently. 

“What do you want me to do? In case you haven’t noticed, I’m kind of trying to find a way to get home so you all don’t have to deal with me anymore and you want me to what? Make you food? Take you on a walk?” Gabriel laughed, probably assuming Sam had been joking. He wasn’t. 

“Nothing of the sort! Just some company while I attend to a certain matter at hand.” Staring blankly at the other, Sam didn’t even bother to blink at the others sweet smile. 

“You want my help with something?” 

“No, I want your company. Come on kiddo! What’cha got to lose!” 

“My dignity.” 

“That’s the spirit!” Jumping off the table, he happened to land in Sam’s lap and snapped his fingers once. Sam blinked and opened his eyes to somewhere else. No longer was there a chair underneath him, forcing him to fall onto his back. Gabriel avoided it by standing up and looking down at Sam to laugh. 

“You bastard,” he wheezed, messaging his head from where it struck the pavement. Standing, he ignored the pain in his chest at the moment and pushed on. “Where are we?” Gabriel shrugged and started walking off, leaving Sam to follow after like a lost puppy. The other man stuffed his hands into his pockets and smirked while they walked, ignoring the several odd looks people kept sending their ways. Trailing along besides him, Sam kept his eye on the nearby people while keeping his hands near to every weapon he had on him. 

“How do they not realize you’re an archangel yet. Seriously.” He would have yelled it at the other if there weren’t several other people milling about. He settled on whispering it angrily at the other, leaning down so he could hear him. 

“Eh, schematics. They’re always too busy hunting down one thing or another to notice the slightly oversized power displays I create. The only one currently there to notice is of course Mikey.” 

“Yeah about that, why is he even living in the bunker? Shouldn’t he be, oh I don’t know, up in heaven running the place or whatever?” Gabriel laughed joyously, as if what Sam had just said was the most hilarious thing in the world. He didn’t get it and voiced it as such. 

“Oh, Samsquatch, you so do not know my family.” The words made Sam wince, memories of the same sentence being used flooding his brain. “Mikey was always ready to fight the war with Luci but never, and I do mean never, did he want the mantle of ruling heaven. He passed that onto ol’ Raphy long ago. As to why he’s here, Cassie himself invited the old angel to live with them and even Dean-o agreed he could do some good around the place.” By the end of it, Sam was possible more confused than before. Dean? Agreed to this so readily? 

“Yep!” Oh crap, he had said that out loud. Clearing his throat, Sam momentarily distracted himself by looking around and found himself in the middle of an alleyway with no one around. His mouth barley opened to form the question of where they were before the ground beneath him fell away and he was sent tumbling blindly into the hole. 

The good news was Gabriel seemed to fall as well, the bad news was he latched onto Sam and whooped with joy. He was stuck between trying to gage the distance between them and the ground and fighting for the other to get off of him. Last second he realized the ground was coming into view and automatically curled his body around Gabriel’s own, forgetting for the moment this was an archangel and not another civilian Sam was in charge of keeping safe. 

Inches above the ground, they stopped and stayed afloat for a second before being fully dropped. Hitting the ground hurt with another body atop him but it hurt a helluva lot less than it would have had they not stopped mid air. Groaning, he opened his previously closed eyes to glare at the smug body sitting on his stomach. 

“See? Nothing to fear.” 

“Get off.” The other looked unwilling to do so but climbed off anyway and held out a hand to help Sam up. He ignored it for favor of standing on his own strength and looking down at the other. 

“What was that.” Despite what he thought would happen, it came out perfectly even, devoid of any emotion whatsoever. It disturbed not only him if the brief look the other sent his way meant anything. 

“Just a little something I cooked up as a fail safe if anything ever happened and I needed a safe place to go. Henceforth, impossible for anyone to find, except for me of course.” Rubbing at his side, Sam kept his glare up until the other had moved and walked away from him. He hesitantly followed, not wanting to be caught in another false floor. 

“Why couldn’t you just zap us here?” Gabriel spared a moment to turn to Sam with a bitchface. 

“You kiddin’? I had to ward this place to Uranus and back a few times. The only thing getting in or out of here is me, and now you.” Raising an eye brow, Sam said nothing but walked slightly closer to the other as they went along. The trip was filled with silence until the tunnel began to open up ahead of them. Sam briefly wondered why it was such a long walk before remembering the others pure love for dramatics and letting it go. Shaking his head silently, Sam stuffed his hands into his pockets and pierced his lips. Whatever they were here for, it had better be good. 

Light flooded his vision once more, different than the light to send him here, more warmth than powerful. Blinking his eyes, his arms found way to his head and shielded his face from it. 

“You said you wanted soul magic,” the other began next to him, forcing Sam to lower his arms enough to watch Gabriel walk forwards and sweep his arms out to the sides with a smirk on his face. 

“Tada.” Furrowing his brow, Sam shook his head lightly but glanced around the room before doing a double take and dropping his arms. Sure, it was ridiculously bright in there and said light didn’t seem to actually have a specific point it came from, but the walls themselves were lined ceiling to floor with books, the odd glowing object and a few other odd loose ends. In the center of the room was a circle of couches and a door laid off to his left. Taking a single step forwards, he stopped his advancement to cast a questioning glance at the still smug angel. 

“Go on, ya little nerd.” Smiling briefly at the other, Sam shot off to the nearest shelf and ran a finger down the spine of a book. It wasn’t what he was looking for but silently he vowed to be back and moved on until he found something that looked promising. He went to pull it out before having second thoughts and looking behind him to find Gabriel watching with a fond expression. 

“You mind if I grab it out?” The other didn’t respond for a moment, didn’t seem to realize he’d spoken at all until he shook his head and blinked. 

“I said go ahead didn’t I?” Sam turned back to the shelf and pulled out to book before continuing on his way. Over the next fifteen minutes he managed to amass over thirty promising books and decided to start with that. Mentally tallying where he’d gotten them so he could return them to their proper place, he sat cross legged on the floor in front of the nearest couch. Sure it would probably be more comfortable on the cushions but he didn’t want to press his luck. Besides, once he got got into the research it wouldn’t matter much anyway. 

Opening the first one he ran his eyes down the page and lost himself in something familiar once more. So enveloped in what these books held he didn’t notice the added pair of eyes watching his every move. Just because Gabriel was okay with the guy being in here didn’t mean he wasn’t going to make sure the giant didn’t go and ruin any of these books. It had taken him centuries to collect these all, most he had to copy onto another book just to retain their information. Still, despite his earlier worries, the kid handled them with even more care and caution than he himself did. 

Every so often the kid would stop and gently shove whatever book he held at the moment away to write something down on a piece of paper he wasn’t quite sure where the other had gotten before continuing on. After only two hours spent on content silence, he was startled out of his staring with a blank mind with the others light gasp as he shifted the book he currently held around in his arms to stand up and make his way slowly over to Gabriel. Snapping up a quick magazine of his own, he pretended he wasn’t staring at the other and watched quietly while the younger Winchester stopped in front of him and slowly set the book down in Gabriel’s hands. 

“Look,” he pointed to the top of the page and Gabriel shot him a quick raised brow that Sam interpreted as annoyance over interrupting his perverting instead of the genuine interest it was. “This looks exactly like what sent me here and I would bet a lot of money if I could say any of that spell, it would sound exactly like what I heard that witch say before I got thrown here.” He had found it by accident, distracted by the others constant stare he only took in so much information at a time. 

Absentmindedly he flipped through the pages. It was purely coincidence he managed to end up on the one with the spell he’d been sent here with. With this, they might just figure out how to send him back! Just in the nick of time too, his eyes kept constantly searching for his Dean or Cas and never found them, only a lot of confusion and a pair of archangels living in their bunker. Flipping the page over, his eyes widened. 

“This... this is the reversal spell!” 

“Well I’ll be damned, and here I thought you’d need at least another hour before finding anything useful.” Frowning at the other, he took the book back and ran his finger down the page, mentally writing out what he needed before searching around for wherever he had set that paper when a blank one was shoved in front of his face. Shooting a smile with no teeth at the others face, Sam took it and immediately went to work copying it down. Sighing, he placed the books he’d referenced back up on their original shelves and turned to the other man. 

“I guess we should be getting back so we can tell the others what we found.” Gabriel nodded and gestured to the door. Sam followed along without question and was soon staring up into the light of day and walking a little ways away as to not get caught in the warding’s. 

“Man, it was nice getting out for a while.” Sam muttered, more to himself than his companion. Gabriel looked at him from the corner of his eye but said nothing. 

“I’m glad we found that spell though.” Stuffing the folded paper into his pocket as they stepped out into the busy market way again, Sam took to once more scanning the crowd for signs of threat before Gabriel reached his hand out and flicked his fingers, giving Sam the feeling of being zapped somewhere once more.

When he opened his eyes, the sight that met his eyes was not that of the bunkers doors but of another place entirely. Looking around him, Sam found himself staring at trees and bushes surrounding them at least ten feet away. Under his feet was soft grass and in the distance mountain ranges peeked over the tree tops. 

“Where are we?” 

“We are in the middle of nowhere, population two.” Frowning Sam looked over at the other man. 

“Why do I get the feeling I’m about to be murdered.” 

“Oh please, if I wanted you dead, Samsquatch, you would already be rotting in the ground.” Scoffing at the other, he wandered away slightly and took a closer look around. He was expecting some sigil’s, maybe a giant tent that was way too big inside, he was not expecting it to be a regular field in the middle of nowhere. 

“So, why are we out here?” The other didn’t respond immediately, just sucked in a breath and shrugged before walking over to him. 

“Figured this was as good a place as any to ask you.” Raising an eye brow, Sam pierced his lips and shook his head. 

“Ask about what?” Gabriel didn’t respond for a moment, taking pride in slowly looking up from the ground through his eye lashes and into Sam’s own eyes. 

“About the thing keeping you here.” 

“The.. spell?” 

“No, your soul.” Any hint of humor he had before dropped and left Sam with nothing but anger and fear. 

“What about it,” any emotion he felt was left out of his words. His eyes had gone hard as he raised himself to full height. It wouldn’t work of course, the archangels real form most likely towered his own but it was the principle of the thing. 

“It’s,” the other tried to fish for some word that could describe it in the nicest way possible and came up empty. “Terrifying. A bit of glue can’t possible hold that thing together.” It sounded like what the fertility goddess told him. Laughing at the memory he shook his head. 

“It’s also got duck tape and safety pins.” Smiling at his own comparison he missed the saddened look the other sent his way. “It’s nothing to worry about. Sure it caused a few.. issues but I mean, I’m fine now.” 

“It doesn’t exactly look at that fine, kiddo.” Shaking his head, Sam laughed at the other and turned away, if only to put a bit of distance between them. 

“Look, I appreciate your concern but it shouldn’t effect what we’re trying to do, okay? So drop it.” 

“No can do Sammich. Not until I know it’s not about to crumble in ya.” Sighing, he turned back to the other and glared at him. 

“Fine but you touch me? I will stab you.” 

“You know that won’t kill me, right?” 

“No but it’ll hurt like a bitch.” Gabriel shrugged but stepped even closer to Sam than before to stare at the other chest. Too busy trying to notice how someone could stand so close and still have not even a piece of his coat touching Sam, he missed when the other furrowed his brows accompanied with the tilt of his head. 

“That’s weird,” he muttered and when Sam looked at him, he found the other staring at him, a hand raised as if to touch at his chest but thinking otherwise. 

“Something wrong?” 

“It’s like it was placed back together and welded in place but that’s not the weird thing. The weird thing is the little blue string on it. Before when you found that spell I had worried it might be too powerful to undo but.. it looks like this thing is barley hanging on!” 

“You’re saying it’s falling apart?” 

“I’m saying it can be undone. If we hurry at least, it might be that this thing gets tighter with time. Or it could get looser, fifty-fifty.” Grinning at the other, Sam stuffed his hand into his pocket to pull out the sheet of paper and move back so he could hold it in front of his face. 

“I’m actually going home!” 

“Yep!” Still grinning, he looked away and at the archangel with glee. 

“Then let’s go. W-we’ve got to share this with Dean.” Looking back to the page he found himself laughing again, missing the hesitant look the other sent at him. 

“Well, say the word and we’ll be on our way.” 

“Yeah. Yeah, let’s go!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Once again thank you for reading and I’m so sorry this took so long to get out, I was camping with no WiFi and as the ending of the show grows closer I continue down spiral further into an emotionally wrecked but I should be able to get the next one out soon!
> 
> Tell me if you see any spelling errors, I appreciate it!


	4. Within The Time Frame

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens when you not only have one pair of Sam’s, but a pair of Dean’s as well?

Gabriel spared no time in flicking his fingers and putting them on the table in the planning room. Glaring at the other, Sam climbed off and went to yell at him when rushed footsteps behind him had Sam spinning around. Not-Dean came running, frantic look on his face becoming simultaneously both more relaxed and even worse at seeing Sam. 

“What’s going on?” 

“You need to come with me. Now.” Nodding, he followed the other as they ran through the bunker, coming to a stop in the library where a figure he knew well was backed up against a wall, weapon drawn. 

“Dean?” His voice startled the other into looking at him and the intensity of his face melted off. 

“Sammy?” Laughing lightly, he stalked forwards and stood in front of his brother. Dean didn’t hesitate, he didn’t pause, he just grabbed Sam’s shoulders and yanked him into a hug, one the taller brother returned automatically. Not-Dean was nice enough, but this was Dean. The smell of gun powder and dust with a hint of something that almost smelled like blood but didn’t at the same time assaulted his senses and his shoulders relaxed around him. They only pulled back after a few seconds but it was enough for both of them to confirm the other truly was their brother. 

“I-I don’t understand! How are you here?” He huffed out a laugh followed by Dean doing one of his own. 

“I don’t know man, after I got up Cas said you were gone and my Baby was missing, which thanks for warning me about by the way-“ 

“Sorry I-I thought I’d be back by the time you were up.” Dean shook his head, patting Sam’s shoulder. 

“Doesn’t matter. What matters is whatever the hell these things are. Did they kidnap you?” 

“No, no, Dean, they’re-uh, they’re us.” A blank stare met his proclamation along with a gesture to them both. 

“No, we’re us.” 

“No I mean this is another universe or reality or-or time line or something and they are us, like they didn’t have to deal with the Leviathans or-or Metatron or the Darkness.” 

“What did you say about the Darkness?” He waved off Cas without looking. The blank stare the other was giving him didn’t change, possibly deepening instead but Dean did look around at the others in the room until his eyes landed on someone in particular. The one person Sam hoped he wouldn’t see. 

Dean growled and attempted a lung at Micheal, forcing everyone in the room to react. Most of them reacted with surprise, the others reacted with anger and Sam reacted by holding his brother back as best as he could. 

“Get off Sammy, let me kill the son of a bitch!” 

“No, Dean! He’s not like ours. He’s not like ours!” Dean didn’t immediately stop struggling but it did slowly lessen until Sam felt it was safe to let go of the other, he still keep a hand on his arm just in case. 

“So the god squad isn’t as dickish here. Good to know.” Huffing at the other Sam shook his head and gestured to those in the room. 

“Dean, these are other us, other Micheal, other Cas, and...” he trailed off on Gabriel, the other bowing over to Dean with as much drama as he could manage. Turns out, his reaction to seeing Gabriel was hereditary. 

“Gabr-“ his voice too cut off and Sam covered it up as best as he could. 

“The Trickster!” He declared loudly with a smile, shooting a quick look to his brother he hoped the others didn’t notice. 

“I thought he was dead.” 

“Apparently that’s just us, uh, dude how did you get here.” 

“Now that I know. I was following the same lead you apparently were and this weird chick threw me through a bright light but not before I shot her in the gut, managed to snatch this,” he held up the red ring Sam had seen days earlier, “before I was thrown in. Next thing I know my face is staring down at me and the rotting apartment was nowhere to be seen.” Nodding, Sam wandered away slightly before pausing. 

“Trickster?” 

“What’s up, Sammon?” 

“Can you look at Dean and make sure he isn’t stuck here too?” 

“See if I’m what?” The gun was back up again, as well as the walls. Waving the other down, Sam jerked his head at the group around them. 

“Not our universe.” He said, hoping it would have the wanted affect on the other. 

“Not our universe.” He repeated back to Sam with a grumble, stuffing the weapon into the back of his pants. He, of course, did nothing about the knife stuffed up his sleeve and left that where it was. If Sam wasn’t going to say anything about than he wasn’t going to do anything about it either. 

“Yep, there’s a little string on Deano-number-two’s as well. In red this time.” Gabriel’s voice startled both brothers into looking at him as well as those in the room. 

“Little string?” Fake-him asked, glancing between the two parties. “What’s that supposed to mean.” 

“Okay so, you guys know how my soul-and now Dean’s technically- is sorta tied here? Well it turns out he can see those strings and.. we might have found a way to reverse it.” Not-Dean sighed and rubbed at his face. 

“I need a drink,” he announced before hitting other-Cas’s arm and gesturing out while walking out of the room. That left him, other him, Micheal, his Dean and even Gabriel to stand awkwardly around each other. 

“What would you need to send yourselves back. I would prefer things to go back to normal as fast as they can.” Dean barley suppressed a growl at the other angel and let out a more minuscule version of it. Sam couldn’t blame him, he did try to stab the other archangel when he first saw him. 

“Dean,” he warned, not bothering to look and see if he listened or not. “We found something that might work but it needs very specific ingredients as well as someone who can read the words correctly. Micheal, can you read this?” He handed the paper over cautiously, aware of the spare he had in his pocket. He may be okay being in the same room as him but no way was he trusting him not to set it on fire the second he held it. Instead of arson, Micheal looked it over slowly and nodded. 

“Yes, I am able to read and say this. Would that be all you need me for.” 

“Uh,” Sam started with a glance to Gabriel, “this spell will only solve the issue of us being stuck here. To get home we need to open a rift or portal using archangel grace, The Seal of Solomon and a whole lot of other stuff which is why we’ve been looking for whatever the hell that witch used on me to open a rift in the first place. Didn’t occur to me until now that maybe it was two different spells.” Sighing, he rubbed at his face and threw his hand onto his hip. 

“Well, if it helps, an old friend of ours found a way to create a rift from the angel tablet.” Sharing a look with Dean, Sam hesitantly looked at Micheal. 

“Kevin?” He asked slowly. 

“Yes. You know him?” 

“A long time ago, yeah. Doesn’t matter, what does it require?” Micheal walked forwards to give the paper back but caught the panicked looks the two shot at him and stopped. Instead of giving it back he refolded it and set it on the shelf next to him. 

“Well, first of all, it requires archangel grace,” he gestured to himself, “as well a a few minor things we should have lying around. It shouldn’t take more than a day or so to collect them all. Sam?” Fake-him nodded and followed Micheal out of the room, leaving him, his brother and Gabriel. 

“Yeah, so, they don’t know.” He started, turning to Dean. 

“They don’t know?” 

“They don’t know.” 

“How do they not know?” Shrugging, Sam sighed.

“Apparently they didn’t go through tv land.” Dean bobbled his head while piercing his lips. 

“How they’ve gone this far without getting it though-“ 

“Not important.” They both forgot about the third person in the room who stared at the pair with a frown. 

“R-right, sorry. Um, so, do you think you could help me get the stuff for the other spell?” Gabriel hesitated but nodded all the same and grabbed the paper Micheal had left behind before walking out of the room. 

“It’s probably good we go back soon because if Cas knows we’re here and we don’t check in soon, he’s going to take the trip as well and I don’t think these guys can take much more of our worlds us.” Dean opened his mouth, whether to say that they were a good influence on these guys or to insult them, Sam didn’t know. He was interrupted before he ever got the chance by the reappearance of a certain Tricksters voice. 

“You muttonheads coming or what?” Shrugging at one another, they followed along and got right to work.

The pure amount of ingredients they needed for the soul spell not only required over two dozen ingredients but also doubled in size on account of Dean also being there. Him, Dean and Gabriel got the ingredients for that while the others worked on the rift spell. They slept very little over the next four days and Sam found himself spending most of that time with the former archangel-turned-trickster while Dean was either out or comparing worlds with not-Dean. 

“We are never going to get this done.” He said on their fourth day, staring down at most of what they needed. He originally asked if either archangels could snap the stuff into existence but both shook their heads and explained that as they were dealing with items of such a large magical property, anything they created wouldn’t work to the same degree necessary, the only exception being the grace, which meant doing it the hard way with lots of research and a whole lot more dead ends. 

“Saying that every five minutes isn’t going to make it happen.” As time wore on, everyone’s nerves wore out and they had started taking to sniping at one another, like Sam and his father had done all while he grew up. Watching the others fight, he managed to get a whole new appreciation of what Dean put up with all these years. Sighing, he glanced at Gabriel out of the corner of his eye. 

“I’m just saying, we still have like twenty different things we need we barley know where are! How are we supposed to do this? What if our Cas gets thrown in here too before we manage to do this?” 

“Relax ya whinny giant. We’ll get it done before pretty boy gets here.” Resisting the urge to glare at the other man, Sam sighed and moved away from the table to check the spells continents once more. 

“Okay, well, next thing we need is a blossom... from a hidden section of Asia.” Groaning, he put his head down on the counter and banged it against it. 

“Watch it kiddo, that’s not really what I want you to be banging right now.” He didn’t even have the energy to wince at the comment, just continued to hit his head until two hands settled on his face and lifted his head slowly. 

“I’m serious. The only thing you’ll manage to do with that is hurt yourself.” 

“What am I supposed to do. By the time we get this done, Cas’ll have come through too and then we have to try and locate even more of this stuff, if there is anymore, and we’ll be even more screwed than we already are.” 

“Then we’ll figure it out, come on lighten up Sammy.” Glaring at his brother, he watched silently as Dean set down the latest set of ingredients as well as an open beer in front of him. Glare subsiding, he took the offering and chugged half of it in one go. “You’re probably just tired man, you should get some sleep.” Sighing, Sam waved his hand around. 

“I guess, but sleep isn’t going to do me-“ 

“if you say any good imma smack you.” Huffing, Sam leaned his head back against the back of the chair. 

“Just go get some sleep man, you look dead on your feet, and I should know, I’ve seen you dead on your feet several times.” Smiling, he nodded without opening his eyes before standing up and leaving behind his brother, still drinking his own beer, and Gabriel, who sat on the table next to where he sat with confusion clear on his face. 

Turns out, Dean was right. The second his head hit that pillow he was out and not even the glimpse of a dream could wake him up. Waking up seven hours later was a trip, literally. Second he saw someone they told him he was needed to go out with Dean for some ingredient or another. Upon their return they found the entire group of this worlders standing around a table, staring down at it. 

“Are we sure this is a good idea?” 

“No, but if the Trickster says he’s okay with it then it’s okay with me.” 

“If the Tricksters okay with what,” Sam asked, setting the bag of the last ingredients down on the table in front of them, Dean doing the same with his own bag. The group glanced at each other before fake-him and not-Dean stepped forwards, partially obscuring the three angels from view. 

“The Trickster found a shortcut to all of this. We were just about to tell you guys about it. Sam?” Fake-him nodded as though any of what they had spoke were true. With a quick shared look with his Dean, the two silently vowed to check over the spell several times before actually going through with it. 

“So, uh, what do we have left to get?” He asked after a moment. Gabriel cleared his throat before stepping forwards and around other him. 

“Only one thing but, uh, I’m going to need some help getting it.” 

“Okay, what do you need us to do?” Dean said, shifting to stand closer to Sam. 

“I only need one more person.” Sighing, he patted Deans arm and nodded. 

“What do you need me to-“ In the blink of an eye Gabriel raised his hand and snapped his fingers, putting him and Sam in a place Sam never thought he’d be again. 

“This is.. one of the gates of hell?” 

“Yep! Need somethin’ special from this place.” Raising an eyebrow, Sam gestured for the other to continue. He did not and instead walked away from Sam and towards the front gates. Following closely behind the other, Sam debated whether to repeat his question again. Maybe the guy hadn’t actually heard him? 

“We are looking for a flower.” Or not.

“A flower?” 

“A flower. A, little blue thing with brown in the center. It’s only supposed to grow here.” Nodding, Sam looked away from the other to search the ground for any shade of blue. So far the only thing that color was the sky itself but Sam doubted that’s what the other meant by it. Sighing, he stood from his crouched position after yet another dead end plant. 

“So,” Gabriel started, breaking Sam out of his trance. “After this whole things over, you just going back to normal life?” 

“Well, we’re almost done with the rift spell to get Jack and our mom back so, not totally normal life but, hey, when is it ever with us.” After that, they went back to silence with a touch more awkwardness to it. Sam couldn’t for the life of him figure out why it was that way but it was, nothing he tried to do could stop it. Sighing, to looked over at the crypt if only to have something blankly to stare at, when something caught at his eye. 

Slowly he stepped towards it, leaving behind a clueless archangel in favor of staring directly at it until he was able to crouch down to its level. A small bunch of brilliant blue lily looking flowers sat at the bottom, a brownish nut thing sitting innocently in the middle of it all. 

“Gabe!” He called out, gesturing behind him for the other to come over. He did so and soon the pair were both crouched down staring at the bed of flowers. 

“These them?” 

“I think so.” Smile lighting his face, Sam stood up and cheered, Gabriel following suit. Without thought, he pulled Gabriel into a hug before pulling back and crouching back down to the ground, if only to hide the wide eyes he now sporting. Gabriel wasn’t doing much better, eyes glazed over with his eyebrows raised and mouth open. 

“S-so how many would we need?” 

“Uh,” he cleared his throat and kneeled next to him once more with a bag this time. “Only three or four... think they’re as easy to get out of the ground as normal flowers?” Sam laughed at him and grabbed one to pull out and prove a point. It didn’t budge. Smile falling, he tried once more to the same effect. 

“Need a hand?” Glaring at the other, Gabriel backed off with raised hands and a smile. Tugging at it once more, it didn’t move and Sam sighed at it. Standing, he gestured to it and pretended not to hear the laughter the other pointed at him. The archangel jerked them out of the ground with ease and set a few of them in the bag, all while looking Sam in the eye and smirking. 

“Whatever, can we just go.” 

“Easy there tiger, I’m just joking. Don’t go pouting at me.” 

“I’m not pouting.” Gabriel gave him a look that was very much bitchy and very much like Dean’s own. Probably why Sam had to stop himself from smiling at it. 

“Alright, lets get this stuff back to Dean-o and the rest and start this project up!” Nodding, Sam sucked in a breath and prepared himself for the snap. Low and behold two seconds later he was in the middle of the bunker. No one else stood in the room besides him and Gabriel so he got to work silently, assembling the different objects in the order they were set to be used and stared down at them. 

“When do you think we can do this? I don’t even know if they’ve gotten all the ingredients for the rift spell.” Gabriel blew a raspberry behind him and came up to stand next to Sam, a bag of gummy bears in his hand. He didn’t bother to glance at it, only stare at the others eyes. 

“I’m sure the Brady Bunch figured it out. You two will be able to be gone in a day, maybe even less.” Nodding, Sam opened his mouth to say something and cut himself off. What was he going to say? It was nice knowing you and getting to know you and the person you are for this past week... bye! That’s awful, he couldn’t say that. It wouldn’t mean everything he wanted it to, everything he needed it to. 

“Are you guys going to move any time soon or...?” Jumping away, Sam cleared his throat to glare at Dean who smirked at him in return. 

“Did you guys get everything for the rift?” 

“Yeah. Micheal is out getting the last of it and when he gets back we can start it.” Nodding, Sam cast a quick glance to Gabriel before walking away and towards where he was staying. What was he about to do? Why would he even stand that close! He probably freaked the other out and now he wouldn’t talk to Sam ever again. Not that it mattered, seeing as he was apparently leaving soon. 

Sighing, he slammed his temporary door open and flopped onto the bed, ignoring the pain his nose felt at being crashed into the pillow like that. His chest was starting to hurt again and honestly? Sam couldn’t wait to finally not have that feeling on him, but what would it cost? Every ounce of time he could have with Gabriel, that’s what. Groaning, he turned over to stare blankly at the ceiling. 

It’s not like they were really.. friends back home. Sam did appreciate what the other had sacrificed for him, but this was different. This Gabriel held something different in Sam’s heart than the other, in the way another person would rather than an alternate version of them. This was-pausing his thoughts, Sam sat up in his bed to stare at the wall in front of him. 

“Oh no,” he muttered. He couldn’t have, there was no way, but there was also the added issue that when he thought about the other, everything else kinda faded away into the background. 

“Oh my gosh,” dropping his head into his hands, Sam screwed his eyes shut in a vain attempt at keeping the thoughts of what it meant away. It didn’t work. 

“I have a crush,” he finally admitted into the empty room, boxes of magical objects and a blender to be his witness. The words were both freeing to admit and felt like something tore his heart out. He was falling for a guy who he was leaving, not the other way around. Groaning he rubbed at his face with as much force as he could manage without risk of popping something. 

He could ignore these feelings and go on with his life, he’d done it before and turned out fine, but if archangels sense surrounding emotions as he knew they did, he was screwed. Maybe not though? He’d obviously felt like this for a time, he just couldn’t put a name to it until now. Maybe he was in the clear? 

A knock at his door startled him so badly he fell right off the bed and onto the floor. Other-Cas opened it a second later but didn’t lean in, the warding made sure of that. 

“Hey, Micheal’s back and we are starting, thought you’d want to know.” Nodding, he threw his hand up in a thumbs up and carefully stood while gathering the bag he’d originally come with and throwing it over his shoulder. By the time he was fully on his feet, Cas was gone, leaving Sam to stare at where he assumed the other had stood. 

“This can’t end well.” Climbing over the boxes he made his way out until he stood in their planning room, this worlds group standing around Dean in a circle. 

“Well, this isn’t a good picture to walk into.” 

“Don’t worry, Sammy, it’s part of the spell. I think.” Piercing his lips, Sam ducked under other-Cas and not-Deans arms to stand next to Dean as well. 

“Sounds reasonable enough. Do you need us to do anything?” 

“Nope, just stand there and look pretty.” Scoffing at the Trickster, Sam shook his head but remained where he stood. 

“This might or might not hurt. They weren’t too descriptive of what would happen other than the link would be broken.” 

“So it’s entirely feasible it could kill us? Awesome.” Though he snarked, Sam could see right through his brother and to the worry riddled in his eyes. He would have pointed it out had he not been feeling the same. 

“When this is broken, there’s a chance you will automatically be sent back or killed, so be careful. Anything feels off you tell us.” Nodding to other-Cas, the brothers simultaneously took a breath and waited as the group all began chanting in a foreign language. Something sparked in his chest, a sense of pain or his lungs maybe. Then it happened again, only stronger, almost as if someone were gently reaching into his chest to look for something. Only they didn’t know what they were looking for, and kept accidentally trying to grab at all the wrong organs. 

Those creating the circle around him had closed their eyes, which explained the lack of concern in any of their faces when Sam collapsed to his knees, Dean following soon after. Whatever this spell was doing, Sam was sure it didn’t end the way they hoped but around the chanting, the weird breeze that swept the room and his weakened state he wasn’t sure, even if he wanted to say something, he could. 

Falling onto all fours Sam gasped as whatever it was slammed into his ribs. It was stupid, he’d been tortured, stabbed, hell he’d even been killed, but this was something different. This was something playing volleyball with his soul and losing. 

As suddenly as it started, the pain stopped and by that he meant as it hadn’t started suddenly, it hadn’t stopped suddenly either and he had to lay there as the pain slowly receded. Voices screamed his name all around him but all he managed to do was flop his hand in their general direction. Someone managed to grab onto said hand while it was in air and held it up with their own strength. His eyes slowly came into focus along with the rest of him becoming something other than numb. 

“‘ean?” He muttered, using the unused hand to search out his brother. A hand just as numb as his own caught his and held on. 

“‘Ver ‘er.” Humming, Sam closed his eyes until those who spoke around him finally became more than just a clump of Charlie Brown sounding adults. 

“-I can’t believe they didn’t tell us anything was happening.” 

“Honestly I’m more surprised they didn’t try to stab one of us while that was happening.” Huffing out a silent laughter, Sam opened his eyes once more to smile at Gabriel. Clearly he knew them too well if he was saying that. 

“You okay Sammy?” 

“‘M fine.” Dean nodded and began the process of attempting to sit up. When other-Cas and not-him tried to help he just waved them off and proceeded to do it on his own. He was quickly followed in suit by Sam who also refused help. 

“You feel anything?” Sam shook his head and realized it was true, the constant ache in his chest was gone. It had gotten worse over time so Sam hadn’t actually noticed how bad it really got until he didn’t feel it any longer. 

“Oh yeah, that’s much better.” Both brothers were pulled to their feet a second later. 

“Let’s have a look see shall we?” Gabriel stepped forwards and looked at Sam first before nodding and moving on to Dean where he repeated the process. “Alright, neither of you have anything on those pretty souls of yours. You’re good to go and.. leave.” Smiling, Sam turned to Dean. 

“We’re going home?” 

“Dude, we’re going home.” Laughing, the pair turned back to the group and gestured for them to continue. 

“Okay, um, what do we need to do?” 

“The rest is up to us and Micheal. If he is willing to give some grace of course.” Micheal nodded, stepping forwards and into Sam’s personal space. Smile dropping Sam stared at the other and felt Dean stiffen besides him. 

“If you hurt him I will cross over myself and end you slowly and painfully.” Without thinking, he nodded until the other backed away, only then did he run the words over in his head and want to question them. However, a single glance at Micheal’s face told him it was probably not a good idea. Piercing his lips, Sam stepped back and watched the group work silently with one another, totally at ease with the other body’s around them, as if they’d worked together for several years. When Sam thought about it, they probably had. Sometimes it surprised him how different this world was from his own. 

Gabriel sidled up next to him a few minutes before it was complete, silent in all ways but breathing. 

“So,” he started, breaking the fragile silence they’d created. “You going to your girl.” 

“Uh,” he winced, pretending that didn’t sting a bit. “Don’t actually have one. Just going home so we can get Jack back.” 

“Yeah you’ve mentioned him before, who is he?” Laughing, Sam smiled at nothing in particular. What a loaded question that was. How could he explain this in the simplest way possible. 

“He’s kind of our collective son, me Dean and Cas I mean. He, uh, he got stuck in another world with our mom and we’re trying to bring him back.” 

“Who’s kid is he?” Wincing, Sam muttered the answer, hoping it would suffice. It didn’t and Gabriel leaned closer to Sam with a raised brow. Not the response he was going for but not a bad one either. 

“Lucifer and a human named Kelly Kline.” 

“What.” Biting his lip, Sam glanced at the others in hopes maybe they’d finish talking this exact second and save him from this conversation. Sadly, they were still deep in conversation with one another while working with the herbs and other objects. 

“Lucifer got out while we were fighting Amara and got Kelly pregnant.”

“My brother.. has a kid.” 

“Well, Jack doesn’t actually consider himself related to him at all so.” 

“I’m an uncle...” shaking his head, Sam furrowed his brows. 

“I guess?” Technically not but he wasn’t about to stomp on the others parade. Gabriel had a wide smile on his face that didn’t diminish even as he looked around the room. 

“That’s... I can’t believe it. That bastard was the first of us four to have a nephilim? Little surprising.” 

“Well, uh, the rest of the archangels in our world are either in the cage or.. dead, so. It would be kind of hard to do that.” Gabriel hummed with a frown and bobbed his head from shoulder to shoulder. 

“Yeah that would be an issue. So, I’ve got to ask, is there something here?” He gestured between the two of them, a suggestive wink going right along with it. Laughing, Sam glanced around to make sure no one listened in before nodding. 

“Does it matter if there is though? I mean, I’m going home in a few minutes, you’re staying here and we can’t exactly ask Micheal to do this spell every time we want to see each other.” 

“Well, unless I’m mistaken, I am an archangel.” Sighing, Sam let his smile fall and shook his head lightly. 

“I can’t. I don’t want to start something and just, hope it works. I can’t ask you to do that, it’s not fair to you.” 

“It’s my decision.” 

“Not if I make it mine as well.” With that, Sam ducked around the other and moved towards the group gathered around the last of the ingredients to be assembled. 

“Alright, lets start this sucker up!” Not-Dean exclaimed with a pumped fist. 

“It will only stay open for a minute so if you have anything to do first do it now.” Both brothers shook their heads, Sam taking only slightly longer and with a lingering gaze to where Gabriel stood with his back to Sam. He nervously readjusted the strap to the bag on his shoulder before sighing.

“Good, lets begin.” Other-Cas started the chant and before the minute was up an orange fracture opened before them. Both he and Dean stepped up to it and stared. 

“What are you going to do when we get back?” He was curious and hadn’t much spoken to his brother about it. 

“I gonna talk to Cas.” Raising his eye brows, Sam looked at Dean and saw only conviction. 

“Guess this place did good by you, huh.” 

“Who would have thought.” Taking a step forwards, Sam smiled and hit his brothers arm. 

“Jerk.” 

“Bitch.” Smiling at one another, they both spared but a second before stepping through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I know this is a little soon after the last one but there’s just something about the rage you get from watching that last episode that makes you want to write. Besides, whoever claimed I had a good writing schedule was a liar. 
> 
> The next one will be a fraction of the size this one was but I didn’t want to break it up into three separate chapters and decided to fit the last bit here before the ending. It should be out soon as long as I sit down and do it!
> 
> As always, thank you for taking the time out of your life to read this and if you watched the ending I hope you’re doing alright still!


	5. And Home Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not quite a welcome home parade but good enough for them

Unlike the first time, it wasn’t a bright light before darkness and the world around him coming into view. This time it was his guts being twisted inside him, his eyes burning in their sockets and his limbs falling off. 

None of it may have happened, but it damn sure felt like it did. As soon as it started, it stopped and Sam was once more deposited onto the ground as gracelessly as humanly possible.

Groaning, he turned his head and caught Dean laying on the ground only a few feet away moving about as fast as Sam himself. Glancing around the rest of the room he quickly identified it as theirs. 

Home at last. The familiar book order and mess of a room met his eyes and Sam felt himself sigh. Closing his eyes, he dropped his head back down onto the ground and listened while Dean got up nearby only to open his eyes again when he hit Sam’s arm. 

Glaring up at the other, Dean didn’t seem to care as he waved his offered hand around again, prompting Sam to take it. With a groan, he took it and let himself be pulled upwards and into his feet. 

“Dean? Sam? Where were you guys, I went out to try and find you and found the Impala alone with nothing nearby-” Ignoring the others cut off sentence, Sam shot a tight lipped smile Cas’s way before rubbing uselessly at his aching arm. He thought going to the other place hurt? Reentering his world had been infinitely worse. At least he was home, the alternative being... well he wasn’t quite sure what the alternative would have been. He never even considered the possibility of being stuck there permanently, more like a prolonged stay. 

“Sam,” Dean muttered at him, smacking his injured arm. It sent a tingling sensation laced with pain up and down his arm leading to a wince from him. He attempted a glare at the other but Dean wasn’t looking at him, he was looking somewhere behind him. 

Furrowing his brows, Sam shot a look at Castiel to see if he saw it too only to find him doing the same thing as Dean, staring at something else entirely with a dark look. Frowning, he too turned and caught sight of what had caught the pairs attention. Mouth falling open he quickly shut it but found it was impossible task with what stood in front of him. Soon enough though, he regained his voice. 

“Are you going to cut me off if I try to say your name again?” Gabriel laughed at him, stepping off the first stair down to their level with a wide smile. 

“Nah. Unless I’m wrong, you already know it.” Shaking his head, Sam didn’t notice the look Dean and Cas shared with one another, he only saw the one in front of him. 

“Thought I told you not to come.” He inched towards the other, Gabriel mirroring his moves with a bit more speed. 

“Thought I told you it was my choice.” Smiling, Sam scoffed at him. 

“It was a stupid choice.” Gabriel pierced his lips and nodded while looking off in the distance. Neither stopped their advance for a second, even when Dean and Cas walked silently out of the room talking in hushed whispers. 

“Guess I’ll fit right in then.” Without further delay, Sam took the final last towards the other and cupped Gabriel’s face between his hands before kissing him. Pulling back after they were both in need of more air than they’d been pulling in, Gabriel leaned his forehead against Sam’s own and covered the giant’s hands with his own. 

“So, you like me.” Laughing, Sam closed his eyes and kissed Gabriel again, only pulling back to utter a quiet reply. 

“Yeah, you ass, turns out, I like you a lot.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that’s it folks! What a roller coaster it’s been doing this. I know it’s a bit short but I didn’t want to try and draw it out too far and I felt that this was the best way to end it. 
> 
> I want to thank anyone who read this and enjoyed it as much as I did to write. It’s always a treat to be able to write these characters and I hope I did them justice.

**Author's Note:**

> *Jazz hands*
> 
> Thank you for taking the time out of your life to read this and I hope you enjoyed this!


End file.
